Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 720 -

*Caterina*

Elio had an earlier morning than I did, so I woke up to the sound of my alarm and the chill of an empty bed. Thinking about how we'd spent the evening before helped to warm me up.

I smiled as I went about my morning routine, hoping that we might spend another evening doing the exact same thing. We had both been so busy lately, and it was a treat to have an evening to ourselves, spent doing what we wanted. I loved spending time with Elio, just enjoying each other. We never seemed to get tired of each other's company.

I let the shower warm up while I brushed my teeth. I had little circles under my eyes because we'd stayed up far too late into the night, just talking and enjoying each other.

It was difficult for us to get to sleep by a decent time because we just loved to talk to each other. Every time one of us would start to drift to sleep, the other one would come up with yet another question or story or idea that felt absolutely necessary to say right at that very moment.

We'd finally fallen asleep sometime around midnight when we realized that we were both just mumbling nonsense to each other in a half-asleep state.

The shower was plenty warm as I stepped into it, but I wished Elio had the time to join me. I could never get enough of his hands on my body. Even having nearly endless sex the night before, I knew I could easily go for several more rounds this morning.

I just never tired of him, not with how amazing he was at what he did. He was by far the most giving lover I'd ever had in my life. I had no idea how addicting sex could be until I had sex with Elio.

After pulling on a casual outfit that would be comfortable enough to wear to class, I wandered downstairs to replace some breakfast. I was confused to replace three ridiculously large men wearing university sweatshirts and jeans sitting at our dining room table. They looked to be in their late 20s but were clearly trying to dress as though they were younger.

"Um, hello," I said awkwardly.

I knew they must be my new bodyguards. Elio had promised they'd be inconspicuous, but this was ridiculous. The three men looked like they could be on a pro football team, and one of them wasn't even wearing the right university name on his sweatshirt.

"Oh, good. You've met your guards," Elio said as he came up behind me. "This is Nev, Lucas, and Jake. Men, this is Caterina." Elio stood between us and gestured to me.

I didn't want to be rude in front of the guys, but I couldn't help but turn to Elio, disbelief on my face. "Inconspicuous?" I asked between my teeth.

Elio shrugged. "They'll be discreet. Won't you, guys?"

The three men nodded. I had no doubt they would try their best, but it was going to be ridiculous to have them following me around. I groaned, realizing that it was too late to stop this.

"Alright, well, as long as you're all here, does anybody want some breakfast?" I asked.

"Sure, I could eat," Lucas piped up.

I busied myself preparing a massive batch of scrambled eggs. One thing I knew about guys this size was that they ate a lot. If they were going to be hanging around, we were going to have to start stocking up more groceries. Thankfully, Anna had an earlier class and was already gone.

Although I was annoyed about their presence, I had to admit that it did make me feel a bit safer to know the bodyguards were keeping an eye on me. They parked close to me, and I tried to ignore them as I headed to my first class. As I walked, I saw a familiar figure up ahead.

"Hey, Elijah!" I raised my voice so he could hear me.

He turned around and smiled when he saw me. I still felt awkward about Elio's behavior the last time we'd seen Elijah, but it looked like Elijah had forgiven it already.

"Hey, Cat, how's it going?" Elijah asked.

I had to fight the urge to turn in the direction of my bodyguards and make sure they weren't standing too close.

"This might sound crazy, but my friend Anna is just dying for me to introduce you. I was telling her about you, and she thought it sounded like you had a lot in common. Would it be okay if I got you two together sometime?" Elijah's eyes widened in surprise, and I hoped he would say yes. I knew I would feel horrible if I had to tell Anna that he didn't want to get to know her.

"Um, yeah, sure, that sounds great. I love meeting new people," he said, excitement replaceing its way into his voice as he spoke.

"Okay, great! I'll probably see her later today, so I'll talk to her then. Have a good day!"

"See you later!"

Elijah wandered off and I gave up on my battle to not look at my bodyguards. I turned around and saw them all standing barely fifteen feet away from me, spread out slightly so that they had me completely surrounded.

I rolled my eyes. 'It makes Elio happy. It makes Elio happy...' I repeated in my head as I walked to my first class of the day.

I desperately hoped they wouldn't try to follow me in. It was a smaller discussion-style class, and they would most definitely be noticed. Luckily, they had decided to stay outside of all of my classes. I felt much more comfortable being able to attend class without having three sets of eyes watching me constantly.

My classes went by uneventfully, and by the time I was walking to my last class of the day, I had almost begun to forget about my entourage... that was, until I came across Anna, and she immediately looked over my shoulder and asked, "Who are those guys?"

Fuck. What could I even say to that? 'Oh, those are the bodyguards that my mafia boyfriend is forcing me to have?' No. That wouldn't work at all.

I couldn't believe Elio had been so sure that the men wouldn't stand out. I glanced behind me and saw all three of them staring at me intently, standing out horribly as students streamed past them.

"Oh, um, I don't know, new students, I think," I mumbled, trying to shrug it off. "So, guess who I talked to today!" I hoped my pathetic attempt to distract her would work. "Who?" she asked, still glancing behind me.

"Elijah! And he's very interested in getting to know you!" I knew I was being overly enthusiastic, but I wanted her to drop the bodyguard issue.

Luckily, that was all it took. "Really?" Anna asked, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Yeah, he said he loves meeting new people." It was as if my words had summoned him. "Actually, there he is, right there!" I raised my hand and waved. "Elijah!"

He walked over with a smile on his face. "Hey, Cat, nice to see you again."

"Elijah, this is Anna. Anna, Elijah. I've told you both a lot about each other!"

"Yes, of course, the lovely Anna," Elijah said smoothly.

Anna's cheeks turned even more pink.

"Alright, well I'll leave you two to talk," I said. "See you both later!"

I walked away, winking over Elijah's shoulder at Anna. I hoped it worked out for her.

I still had a few minutes to spare before my class, so I decided to take the opportunity to talk to my guards. I found an empty classroom and gestured to the three of them to follow me into it. "What is it?" Nev asked.

"You guys are way too obvious! Anna asked me who you were immediately. You're drawing too much attention."

"Look, Miss Caterina, we really don't want to make things hard for you, but we have strict orders to follow you everywhere and not let you out of our sight. Even allowing you to go into your classes without us is technically breaking the rules, but I figured you'd hate it if we went in with you."

I groaned. I would definitely have hated that, and I appreciated the fact that they had at least given me that small mercy. It was ridiculous that Elio had tried to get them to go into my classes with me.

"We'll try to be more inconspicuous," Lucas said. "But we can't make any promises. Your safety comes first."

I rolled my eyes and led all four of us to my next class. It hadn't been that bad of a day, but I was ready for it to be over. As soon as I got home, I was going to beg Elio to put an end to this bodyguard nonsense. It was just so unnecessary. Nothing was going to happen to me on the packed campus.

Luckily, my last class of the day passed quickly, and the three guards really did a slightly better job at staying farther away from me. I headed to my car and found that Anna was leaning against it, a massive grin on her face.

When I got closer, she squealed and wrapped her arms around my neck. "We're going to go to dinner!" She exclaimed.

"No way!" I yelled, "That's amazing!"

I was so happy for her. She deserved to be happy. I was also happy that I would be able to tell Elio that Elijah and Anna were going to be dating. I hoped it would get him to stop worrying so much about Elijah. Surely, he would stop assuming that Elijah was just another Junior if he knew that Anna was dating him.

Before I had the chance to ask Anna anything more, I noticed the bodyguards walking toward us. They would have to walk right beside us to get into their car, and I didn't want Anna to question their presence yet again. "Alright, well I need to go, I'll call you later!" I told Anna, trying to get her to leave.

I got into my car and Anna waved at me, her face still split into that massive grin. My bodyguards walked around her, but she didn't notice them as she turned and walked to her own car. I held my breath as the three got into their own car, grateful when Anna didn't notice them.

I knew there was no way I'd be able to get her to forget about them a second time.

How in the world was I going to manage to continue to keep my life from her?